Gina, Brenda, Calicia and I went on a trip out west and here is my story.

Day 1

I'll never be as comfortable flying as I am in my dreams, nevertheless I enjoy the abstract perspective from the air. The fifteen hundred and thirty four miles from Phil to Vegas was mostly uneventful until our descent into Las Vegas. The lighting flashed along with thunderous booms as the wicked wind pushed us around like a leaf in the wind. After a nerve wracking circling the area three times, we were diverted to Ontario, CA. With the sun long set and lights ablaze, Ontario looked like a nearly perfect geometrical layout where even the lights seemed to be set perfectly apart....subdivisions repeated over-and over again across the country. Finally arriving five hours later than expected Vegas was beginning to live up to it's name, the city that never sleeps. Dawn-to-dusk-dusk-to-dawn...but I didn't care, today was RUSH concert day!

Day 2

For more than thirty years Rush has steadily climbed the mountain of art rock and from my perspective there are few other bands (if any) on the same trail.

With a hilarious opening video about dreaming of snakes Alex and Neil wake up in the same bed with a shocked expression and a "AHhhhhhhh" made me wonder if they were dreaming about strangling a snake under cover. Onto a groggy Geddy sitting at a table say Ahhhh what the heck did I eat last night? and in comes a kilt wearing Scottish dude (no other than Geddy himself) yelling "you lazy bastard the show must go on! Now wipe that chicken off your face and get up on stage. Entering with "Limelight" Neil and Alex run on stage with Geddy somewhat behind runs over to Alex so he can see if any grease is left on his mug. Geddy was having a tad bit of trouble with either his ear piece or the greasy chicken as his vocals needed a bit cleaning up. Recovering and sounding better than ever the trio hammered, sang and axed their way through "Digital Man", "Entre Nous", Mission and "Free Will". The reference to the chicken came from Geddy's idea of using three large rotisserie ovens on stage. From my perspective the ingenious idea fits well with the over all compilation of the new and old songs chosen for this tour, as chicken feeds the world and bird flu. Also on stage they used three large black video screens which at times made some of the graphics seem as they were floating in mid air, very nice. Geddy then introduced "The Main Monkey Business" accompanied by a funny video, of you guessed it monkeys. Onto "The Larger Bowl, "Secret Touch", Circumstances", "Between The Wheels" and "Dreamline" The Geddy announced that they needed a break as they are like one hundred years old.

The melody's of soft and hard that only Rush seem to be able to weave together so perfectly, along with the ever so sophisticated lyrics by Peart about the world we live in bring poignant thoughts to mind and as Neil said; it's a prize every time.

With the opening of the second set a video starring that wacky way out character Alex, based on the board game "Snakes and Arrows". Had Alex climbing a ladder to the door of another dimension. Followed by an arrow hitting a numbered square where Alex acted out a different vice, such as envy. There was a sequence of arrows with a different skit each time but this being only my second show, it was a bit much for me to take it all in. Nevertheless it was funny yet serious at the same time.

Sounding especially good live the music continued with more new tracks from the album "Snakes and Arrows"... "Far Cry" "Working' Them Angels", Armor and Sword" "Spindrift" and "The way The Wind Blows" all accompanied by amazing videos of society's relentless whirlwind of humanity. Onto "Subdivisions", "Natural Science"and "Witch Hunt" With new and old fitting really well Geddy introduced; Now with some more malignant narcissism.... "Malignant Narcissism..

Then came Neil's drum solo, truly a prize every time this tour as he serendipitily plays what he's feeling on the first half of his solo.

Onto Alex's own "Hope" being like a rainbow on the horizon I really loved it! Alex has long mastered his instruments with sensual, swelling, climaxing to screaming guitar riffs.

After "Hope came "Summer Time Blues" onto to "Spirit Of Radio" which is awesome live or studio. Then a video using the characters from South Park introducing a favorite of mine "Tom Sawyer" Cartmen as Geddy saying I am Geddy Lee and I'll sing it anyway I please. "It's about a black guy going down a river" then of course it being the song played most on radio stations across the country and the world, the crowd went nuts.

Encore...
"One Little Victory" "A Passage To Bangkok" and "YYZ" followed by another video of the same Scottish dude say: I got a date with a chicken now you all go home. What a fantastic enjoyable time I had. Neil had a huge smile which in some sort of bizarre way made me feel good. It amazes me the energy and stamina these fifty something guys have this is absolutely a must see show with fantastic visuals and awesome music it really can't be beat!

Day 3

Zion Photos

Finally getting some much needed rest we headed N.E. one hundred and fifty eight miles to Zion National Park. Our first stop was the visitor center where we learned that Zion is located along the edge of a region called the Colorado Plateau. The girls were absolutely amazed at the natural beauty as we wound our way on the Zion-Mt Carmel scenic route. The Virgin River winds it's way through the bottom of the canyon and along the route there is a 1.1 mile tunnel carved and blasted out of the solid rock. As you pass through the tunnel the landscape changes dramatically from high majestic peaks to rolling hills. We took a short hike along the route having some nice photo pursuits. I used my Cannon 35 mm T-70 camera, film at Wally- World getting developed and will be ready later this week. I am like a kid in a candy store waiting in anticipation. After Zion we headed west another eighty three miles to a little town called Tropic. Tropic is located right about in the middle of Kodachrome Basin State Park and Bryce Canyon National Park. Gina and I wore the girls out and they wanted to stay at the motel so Gina and I went to explore Kodachrome. On the way the Jack rabbits were abundant, criss crossing the road in front of us all along the way with one comically not deciding which way to go racing us up the road. (sorry granny no fresh road kill tonight) With it's sand stone chimneys and contrasting color changes with the days mood, it made for some excellent photos.

Day 4

Bryce photos

Up at the crack of dawn we headed eleven miles east to Bryce Canyon. Gina and Calicia went horse back riding while Brenda and I explored the many wonders of Bryce. From the tall majestic ponderosa pines to the whimsical hoo doos it was an exciting time. The mixture of colorful minerals such as iron (yellow and red) manganese (pink and violet) mixed with calcium carbonate along with uplift and faulting ten to fifteen million years ago continuing with weather and erosion Bryce perpetually creates and recreates itself. A bit after noon we headed off to the north rim of The Grand Canyon via rte 67 and 6700 feet above sea level through the Kaibob National Forest. The drive through the forest reminded both Gina and I of northern CA where we met. Some of the area was scared by wild fire. Arriving at the Grand Canyon we had a nice picnic then visited the lodge to my luck they had a cabin available... but all the persuading in the world wasn't going to convince the girls to spend the night to my disappointment even if they didn't have any clean under garments. If you do ever get to stay try and get cabin 309 it sits near the edge of the canyon and offers some fantastic views. We all enjoyed the rest of the afternoon exploring eating ice cream and hiking the Bright Angel Point.
The North Rim has many more amenities than the south rim with lots of cabins, even a saloon. It was a long ride back to Las Vegas through thunder storms and flying tumble weed yet being someplace new is always enjoyable.

North Rim Grand Canyon photos

Day 5

When we all woke up and sang "Happy Birthday" to Calicia's 21st then we headed off to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Unfortunately the day brought heavy down pours and road was washed out along the scenic drive so we went to the visitor center. There we learned about the area and bought a few gifts and I bought Gina a really nice turquoise necklace, which had her smiling from ear to ear. That evening we taught the girls how gambling doesn't pay, with losing a pocket full of cash.

Day 6

Red Rock photos

We headed back to Red Rock and the scenic drive which was worth the ride another amazing place. The rest of the day we rested and played around the pool, at the hotel. We stayed at the Marriott Hughes Center and if you get the opportunity by all means stay there. It's clean, quite the staff are friendly and you get a free hot breakfast and they host complimentary food in the evening.

Day 7

3 AM wake up call and we headed to the car rental check in, onto the bus to check in at the air port for a 6 AM flight back to Philadelphia. This time the flight wasn't delayed and we landed on time with a
"Whew we made it"

Your description of the concert made me re-live my two experiences (I wrote them out too but didn't put them here) which was wonderful.

Then a wonderful Neil-like travelogue with a dash of Spudly personal touch. I've seen documentaries on the less-travelled Bryce and Zion of the Grand Canyon on the Travel Channel but you brought it up-front-and-personal. Beautiful photos and I love the "nod" to S&A too.

'Scuse me. I gots to read agin!

I'm glad you and your family had such a wonderful time. And thank you for sharing it with us. _________________

I wasn't trying to emulate anyone, at any rate we do learn from others and yes perhaps I learned from Neil's writing but only in a good way.
As much as I enjoy writing it doesn't always come easy, I labored over that for nearly 6 hrs. I got this inspiration while in Zion "For more than thirty years Rush has steadily climbed the mountain of art rock and from my perspective there are few other bands (if any) on the same trail" and this one from a poem I wrote more than a year ago, that is and has been on the board?" society's relentless whirlwind of humanity" of course there is more to it but that is a direct quote. "The prize every time" did come from Neil. I came up with everything else on my own by rework it over and over several times making it better. I try and improve on myself all the time and I will say I have been influenced by Rush in a lot of aspects concerning my life, again only in a good way.

Thank you, Hairy!

My wife and I both got a good laugh out of that comment and any money we "use" to have is now in the bank of a number of casino's in Vegas. Absolutely you got to go would be a nice trip for you guys to take with the Lucas clan too, very educational.

Remembering what Dr. Crick once said and is very true....Life isn't predestine....it's the ground we walk on, being influnced by those who walked before slightly, those influence morph in our own adult thinking created by our circumstances in life.

Finally, a day of total excess as I'm on vacation after all . Not being able to afford a trip to any of the Rush 'SnA' UK shows is certainly a pisser so I was most chuffed to find a cool bootleg concert DVD available to download.
At three DVD's in length I predicted at least a week's impatient downloading but it was completed overnight (ten gig of data!) and burnt to disc first thing this morning .
I had the whole day to myself so I performed the usual domestic chores, rolled three big fat happy cigarettes, closed the curtains, turned up the surround sound DVD player to eleven and relived the three hour show in it's entirety (from 'Vegas in July)

Joined: 31 Dec 2003Posts: 11084Location: In the shadows of the everlasting hills

Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 7:00 am Post subject:

Good job, mate.

DVD's can be a life saver. I haven't seen Yes in seven and a half years. Fortunately, they've released a number of DVD'd during that time, so I haven't gone completely mad. _________________Aren't you the guy who hit me in the eye?